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PEARCE: PRESIDENT’S RHETORIC DOES NOT MATCH ACTIONS

Maljamar, New Mexico (March 21, 2012) Today, Congressman Steve Pearce issued the following statement in response to President Obama’s visit to New Mexico:

“While I welcomed the President to New Mexico and greatly respect the office of the President, the simple fact is that his energy policies have failed New Mexicans,” said Pearce. “We are seeing rising gas prices and tremendous reliance on foreign oil sources. Additionally, New Mexicans are faced with the threat of losing their jobs in the oil fields as a direct result of this administration’s determination to list the dunes sagebrush lizard as endangered. His visit did little to address these concerns, just as his energy policies have done little to actually help increase oil production. The President claims that he is increasing production, but the reality is that his policies are killing oil and gas jobs and have resulted in the decline of oil production on federal land.”

Today, President Obama visited an oil field in Maljamar, New Mexico to talk about his energy policies, which he claims have increased oil production. However, Congressman Pearce and many local constituents have spoken out, saying that his policies have done nothing of the sort. With his denial of the Keystone Pipeline and his administration’s persistence in the ESA listing of the lizard, the effectiveness of his energy policies has been called into question. While oil production on private lands has increased, according to the Institute of Energy Research, oil production on federal land was down 11% in 2011.

According to Tim Wigley, President of Western Energy Alliance, “Despite the President’s promise of reducing regulations on American businesses, the reality is that his own administration’s bureaucracies and broken policies are making energy development in the West increasingly difficult, time consuming, and cost prohibitive. It’s actually delaying the economic recovery he seeks.”

“American oil and natural gas producers have been able to increase domestic production from projects that started years ago, but this upward trend cannot continue unless we seriously reform the federal bureaucracy,” Wigley added.